Recipes for Kids
 www.sunmaid.com

(Spring 2006 — Kingsburg, CA.)   According to a recent survey, nearly 97 percent of kids enjoy cooking and almost half of the families surveyed admitted that they would eat more home-cooked meals if cooking was a family activity.1 With so much going on in today's family, from soccer games to piano lessons, the kitchen remains the one haven for coming together as a family and creating a culinary masterpiece that all can enjoy. Now Barbara Beery, founder of the popular children's cooking schools Batter Up Kids Culinary Center, has partnered with Sun-Maid to provide parents with the tips and recipes they will need to encourage their young ones to get in the kitchen and spend some true quality time with their kids.

"Children increase their vocabulary by reading recipes thus increasing their comprehension skills," said Beery. "Cooking also makes understanding math concepts easy and fun, from measurement to learning about fractions and conversions. With some of my helpful tips, children of all ages can enjoy cooking while learning important skills for the future. Also, this easy to prepare recipe featuring Sun-Maid Raisins is a great way to start your child on the road to cooking."

Barbara Beery has provided the following tips for making children's cooking adventures a success:

All Hands on Deck — Teaching children to cook is all about a "hands-on" method of activity. Measuring, rolling, shaping and sprinkling flour on the table are all big events in the cooking arena.

Think Small — Utilize small mixing bowls and bring out muffin tins, paper cups, small spatulas and small wooden spoons. By matching the size of the utensil to the size of the hand it allows the child to have better hand to eye coordination and ensures their success.

Get Prepped — Parents need to do some prep work in advance of the cooking activity so children move easily from one step to the next, and it ensures there is no "down-time." A great way to prep ingredients is to set-up a "bar" type preparation area so the children can "dump" ingredients directly into their own mixing bowl.

Safety is Key — Children need supervision in the kitchen which is why an "adult helper" should always be present. Talk to your kids about which tasks are appropriate for grown-ups and which are safe for children. By establishing a few simple kitchen rules, such as washing hands or not touching anything sharp or hot, your little ones will have a fun and safe cooking experience.

Make a Mess — Kids are not going to be tidy and neat in the kitchen so embrace an easy-going attitude, be patient and most importantly enjoy the experience of sharing time together in the kitchen. If cracking their first egg means it actually makes it in the bowl... wonderful. If it ends up on the kitchen floor, that's OK too.

Then Clean it Up — Clean-up is part of cooking so make it part of the event. Designate two scrap bowls, one for left-over ingredients and the other for dirty utensils. Discard leftover ingredients in the trash and put used utensils in soapy water. Give every small child a sponge/dishcloth of their very own to encourage clean-up in their work area.

Besides offering tips for success in the kitchen, Barbara Beery also has plenty of kid-friendly recipes in her series of books titled "Batter Up Kids," that range from desserts to snacks. To get your child started in the kitchen try this healthy and easy to prepare recipes featuring Sun-Maid Raisins and dried fruit:

Healthy Recipes for "Raisin" Kids

About Barbara Beery

Barbara founded Batter Up Kids Culinary Center in 1991, and currently teaches approximately 400 kids per month. Barbara has taught thousands of children in year-round classes, cooking birthday parties, and summer cooking camps. She's also created hundreds of menus and recipes, and is always reminding kids that they can try anything, and can definitely have fun with their food.

In addition to her two children's cookbooks, Batter Up Kids: Delicious Desserts and Batter Up Kids: Sensational Snacks, Barbara has been a featured guest on the nationally syndicated radio shows, A Chef's Table and The Supermarket Guru, and on Good Eats with Alton Brown on Food Network. Barbara is a contributing writer to Family Fun Magazine. Barbara is a member of IACP and was hired by the Texas Department of Agriculture to create healthy kid-friendly recipes which have been distributed to all elementary schools in the state of Texas.

About Sun-Maid

Founded in 1912, Sun-Maid Growers of California is the world's largest producer and processor of raisins and other premium quality dried fruits. Sun-Maid's raisin sales of over $200 million and 200 million pounds annually are approximately half "Sun-Maid" retail consumer products and half ingredient products for such items as cereals, breads, and a variety of other food products. Located in Kingsburg, California in the heart of the San Joaquin Valley's raisin producing district, Sun-Maid products are distributed throughout the United States and in more than 50 countries.

For more information about Sun-Maid Growers, visit www.sunmaid.com.



It's an important part of a healthy lifestyle:

• Children who are encouraged to be a part of meal planning and preparation will take a personal interest and ownership in whatever they help make.
• They will be more receptive to sampling new and different foods if they've had a hand in the preparation.
• Motivating children to cook gives them the nutritional knowledge which enables them to develop lifelong good eating habits.
• Teaching children to cook is about creating memories and that is the most precious ingredient of all.

It's a life skill:

• We all need to eat... it's a great experience to learn to cook for yourself and others.
• It equips a child with skills and knowledge that they will use and benefit from for the rest of their lives.

Enhances academics - Reading, math, science, history and geography:

• Children learn to increase their vocabulary by reading recipes thus increasing their reading skills.
• They learn different math concepts from measuring to learning about fractions and conversions.
• Cooking is all about science. Hypothesis, prediction and outcome skills are honed in every recipe made.
• Every food has a history, where did it begin, how did it get started, where did the name originate? This also brings in geography. What part of the world did the recipe originate, what produce grew well in that particular region, do the recipes of that area reflect the produce which was plentiful?

Great for self-esteem:

• In how many extra-curricular activities may a child participate and become an instant success? Just one...Cooking! It takes many piano lessons to play a beautiful piece on the piano, lots of ballet lesson to understand all the positions and work them correctly, and many after school soccer practices until you understand how the game is played. But all it takes is one cooking lesson to be accomplished and to complete the recipe with success.
• Follow a recipe from start to finish, have a delicious treat to eat as your reward, and you have become an expert on that recipe. Cooking is self-gratifying, extremely creative, and an ideal activity for all children.

Lisa Grossman
Burson-Marsteller
(310) 309-6654
lisa_grossman@lax.bm.com